Durham, N.C. — Hundreds of teachers will be eligible to receive $10,000 bonuses next spring by mentoring colleagues, Gov. Pat McCrory said Tuesday, shortly before asking teachers to lobby the state Senate to approve a House budget that would provide teachers statewide with raises.

North Carolina is shifting $6 million in federal Race to the Top funds to provide bonuses to about 450 teachers statewide who create professional development resources, lesson plans and classroom materials to help other teachers. The group makes up the new Governor's Teachers Network.

"This is a team effort because, when you work as a team, you get better results," McCrory said at a Durham luncheon.

More than 1,000 teachers applied to participate in the Governor's Teachers Network, and they were chosen through a competitive process that looked at the grades and subject areas they teach, the location of their school districts and the depth and quality of their experience.

McCrory noted that mentorship is one aspect of his proposed Career Pathways for Teachers program, which he rolled out in May. Under the program, teachers would be rewarded for both experience and student performance, and school districts would have the flexibility to provide higher pay to get teachers into low-income and rural schools and to recruit hard-to-find science and math teachers.

The governor then spoke about the so-called "mini budget" that the House approved last week. The spending plan would provide raises to teachers and state workers but doesn't address other elements of the state budget, which would then operate under the second year of the two-year budget adopted last summer.

The raises don't come at the expense of thousands of teaching assistant positions, McCrory said. The Senate's proposed budget would give bigger raises to teachers but would pay for it by eliminating funding for more than 7,000 classroom assistants.

The Senate refused to even debate the mini-budget on Monday, using a parliamentary maneuver to send it back to the House for reconsideration.

McCrory said Tuesday morning that the mini-budget deserves a Senate vote, and he urged teachers to lobby senators to take up the proposal.

"We need you to get them to vote on it," he said. Every senator should be "allowed to vote on an education plan which is not only going to make a difference today but is going to make a difference for generations to come, and it's going to encourage more young college graduates to get into the teaching profession."

iron fistJul 2, 2014

Anything for a vote.

Honesty firstJul 2, 2014

Almost as good as the idea from Lt Gov Forrest of having an endowment to pay teachers from donations from taxpayers. OMG!!

sisuJul 2, 2014

I think a lot of people look at the salary scale for teachers and think that every year teachers move up to a slightly higher pay level. That was the case for a very long time and is the case in most states. However, that stopped here in NC several years ago.

If you look at the schedule it appears that the next year a teacher makes more but what they have really been doing is shifting the number of years of experience for each level. I'm using fake numbers for this example...

if a teacher had seven years of experience and was making $31,000 it might show on this year's schedule that a teacher with 8 years makes $31,500. In actuality, what would happen next year is that it would all be shifted and now a teacher with 8 years is shifted to the $31,000 amount. It's been doing that for several years. If one compared the last several years you'd see what I'm talking about.

Also, most of the "raise talk" bantered about by the powers that be" includes raises for all state employees.

normson7Jul 2, 2014

The GA has made it a point, they aren't interested in hearing what teachers have to say. Has he totally missed the "Moral Monday" demonstrations?

Plenty CoupsJul 2, 2014

View quoted thread

"Perdue's proposal to give teacher raises her last two years were blocked by republicans who have made it VERY clear through their actions, that teacher pay and education is not a priority..." per plenty coup=========This is a perfect example of NC Teachers self centered, petty, selfishness. YES, the republicans did block a raise for teachers the last 2 years of Perdue BUT the economy was in the trash can AND the state of NC was having to LAY OFF THOUSANDS OF EMPLOYEES.Seriously, how many other people should LOSE THEIR JOBS so 'teachers' can get the raise they want...would that be 1 person or maybe 10 or how about when it gets up into the 100s or 1000s.SELFISH, SELFISH, SELFISH!!

— Posted by affirmativediversity

Let me get this straight...somehow teachers are "selfish" because they haven't had a raise for 5- 6 years (along with the state employees you keep touting) and they should have just gone along with the republican general assembly denying them anything as well as the attack on their benefits. (you ignore that part). You also ignore the fact that the republicans VOLUNTARILY ended the "penny" sales tax that wasn't hurting anybody way back in 2011. That would have been enough to pay for raises for both teachers AND state workers for 2012. Why do you ignore that? And so...according to you...teachers are selfish (though somehow state workers aren't...can't understand that logic) even though the money was there in 2011 and again last year (a surplus) when republicans voluntarily cut taxes ...AGAIN!

678devilishJul 2, 2014

going to vote Republican....now is it!

No, but they are not going to vote McCrory back in either. :) They realize a new governor is warranted.

elkersterJul 2, 2014

View quoted thread

McCrory should stopped sucking up to the teachers and start worrying about the thousands of other state employees who have not received any kind of raise in over 7 years!!!!!!After all its not like the teachers are going to vote Republican....now is it!

— Posted by affirmativediversity

False. It has been small but there has been at least one raise. Yes we are over due for a decent one but it doesn't help when people don't have their facts right.

RockGuitarJul 2, 2014

No, McCrory, it's your job to get the Senate to work with you. You are the Governor, after all. And if your own party majority in the Senate can't even work with you, then you're useless as a governor. No way this guy gets elected a second term. He probably won't even bother to run.

678devilishJul 2, 2014

All teachers in North Carolina deserves a nice raise. If he continue to harp and hoom about it, this should give you more reason why you should not vote for him to remain as your governor. In fact its proven daily that we do need a new governor.

affirmativediversityJul 2, 2014

"McCrory offers teachers bonuses, asks them to lobby Senate.."I'm pretty sure that collective bargaining by public employees, of any kind, is against NC law.Did McCrory just encourage an entire sector of NC public employees to "collectively" lobby for a "bargain"?